


Scent-Bonded

by Destielshipper4Cas



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha Dean, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Omega Castiel, Omega Verse, Pining, Scenting, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22602040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destielshipper4Cas/pseuds/Destielshipper4Cas
Summary: When the alpha Cas is scent-bonded to leaves him, it’s on Dean to pick up the pieces. Since they’re scent-compatible, letting Cas scent him helps the omega feel less despaired. An easy solution—if only Dean wasn’t in love with and scent-bonded to Cas.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 175
Kudos: 1231





	1. Chapter 1

Dean felt a headache coming on and debated leaving his friends at the Roadhouse and go home to let himself wallow in self-pity for a while.

Sam and Eileen were being all cutesy with each other, which would usually make him smile and maybe tease them a bit, but not today. Then there was Benny and Andrea, but the fact that he was the only one here without a date wasn’t the problem either.

No, the problem was sitting in the corner of the booth, lost in each other and ignoring the conversation about… something the rest of them were having. Cas and the alpha he had recently started dating, Inias. (A stupid name if you asked Dean.)

They were being all cute, scenting each other every chance they got—which apparently included Roadhouse outings now.

“I think I’m gonna head home,” Dean decided when he saw Inias brush against Cas’ scent gland with his thumb and Cas shudder in response. It should be Dean eliciting such a response from the omega, not some other random alpha!

Cas, apparently too busy getting drunk on Inias’ scent, didn’t even try to stop him from leaving.

⁂

It seemed like all Dean saw during the next few weeks was Cas and Inias scenting each other. He was close to telling them to get a room already, but Cas had recently told him that they hadn’t slept together yet and Dean didn’t want to be the one to suggest it.

It was a few excruciating weeks after that first Roadhouse scenting when Cas showed up in front of his door late one Saturday evening, completely distraught. Not having expected any company, Dean was already in his PJs, but Cas didn’t even seem to notice as he brushed past Dean and headed for the couch where he flopped down.

He sniffled his way through an explanation about how Inias had taken a job overseas and had broken it off. From what Dean could gather from the bits and pieces Cas got out between sobs, he had scent-bonded to Inias, but not vice versa.

Dean had fantasized about Cas and Inias breaking up, but now that Cas was here, sobbing and smelling so miserable, it just broke his heart and made him feel a bit guilty about fantasizing about it in the first place.

Desperate to make it better, he pulled Cas towards him, his hand gently guiding the omega’s head to the crook of his neck.

“Dean—what…” Cas started, a little bit of confusion mixing in with the scent of despair.

“Trust me,” Dean said. “It’ll help. Just start scenting.”

Cas held himself perfectly still for a moment. But then he tentatively started scenting, taking in little shallow breaths and tickling Dean’s scent gland in the process.

Dean so shouldn’t be doing this! It was way too intimate. Way too close to the fantasies he only allowed himself to have alone in the middle of the night. But there was no way he would let Cas suffer if there was something he could do about it—and scenting someone else you were scent-compatible with could help get over a failed scent-bond. At the very least it would get Cas’ mind and nose off Inias.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Cas had scent-bonded with Inias with all the scenting they’d been doing, but normally, scent bonds worked both ways. Plus, Cas had never been scent-bonded with anyone before, and Dean had kind of gotten used to it.

The omega had once confided in Dean that he was afraid he wasn’t capable of forming a scent bond with anyone. After all, people usually scent-bonded for the first time in their youth.

“Maybe it’s me,” Cas now mumbled into his shoulder. At least the sobs had stopped, but Cas sounded apathetic now, which certainly wasn’t better. “Maybe people just don’t scent-bond with _me_. Maybe my scent is too… too un-scent-bondable.”

“Okay, now you’re talking nonsense,” Dean said, unable to keep himself from gently stroking up and down Cas’ back in an attempt to soothe him.

Of course, he knew first-hand how wrong Cas was about that. After all, he had been low-key scent-bonded to the omega for years now. Naturally, there was no way he could tell him that. Apart from the fact that this definitely wasn’t the time, he didn’t want things to become awkward between them.

Dean wasn’t great at comforting people with words, but for Cas’ sake, he’d make an effort, so he began, “Scent-bonding is supposed to be something special. It should feel good, and it sucks that your first time had to end like this, but scent bonds—they can feel fucking awesome. But at the end of the day, it’s just hormones.”

Cas let off Dean’s scent gland and looked at him through red-rimmed eyes, biting his lip. “Can I tell you something?” he then asked.

“Sure.”

But Cas was looking around the room, hedging. “You’re going to think I’m a horrible person.”

“C’mon, you know that’s not possible.” He bumped Cas’ shoulder with his own for good measure, reminding him that they would always be friends no matter what.

That seemed to do the trick. Finally, Cas mumbled, “I miss his scent.”

Dean raised a sarcastic eyebrow. “Wow. Missing the scent of the person you scent-bonded with. Yeah, that’d definitely make you a horrible person.”

“No, I mean… I don’t really miss _him_? If that makes sense? Just, you know, his scent.”

Oh. That confession probably shouldn’t make Dean feel as happy as it did. Seemed like it really had just been hormones and Cas being attracted to Inias’ scent, which was a relief even if it didn’t mean that Dean would ever stand a chance.

“Yeah, well.” Dean shrugged. “That’s scent bonds for you. Falling hard and fast for someone’s scent. Doesn’t mean you end up mating them. Doesn’t even mean they’d make for a good mate.”

Cas heaved a deep sigh. “Everyone always says how great scent bonds are… I had no idea they make you feel so… despondent.”

“They don’t, usually. If you’re scent-bonded to someone, you can just enjoy it for what it is. Even if the other person isn’t scent-bonded to you, it kinda feels amazing just smelling ’em nearby.” Smelling Cas was certainly always thrilling and never failed to give Dean butterflies deep in his belly.

When Cas only looked more dejected, Dean quickly added, “I mean, it really sucks that he just left you here to deal with the fallout. So… yeah, that sucks. But you’ll scent-bond with another alpha sometime and then it’ll feel great, you’ll see.”

Cas sighed again. Yeah, Dean really wasn’t great at comforting people.

They just sat together in silence for a moment. Then, Cas motioned towards Dean’s neck. “Do you mind?” he asked sheepishly. “I think it actually does help.”

Dean gave him a half-smile. “Told ya.”

The next second he had pulled Cas close once more and the omega was scenting along his neck again, making those butterflies reappear in Dean’s belly.

Yeah, this _so_ wasn’t a good idea. Cas was heartbroken over some other alpha and would never see Dean as more than a friend. Feelings were bound to get hurt. But they were _Dean’s_ feelings, so that was okay. As long as Cas felt better for it, Dean would make sure he didn’t have to deal with the broken scent bond all alone.

When Cas, still intimately scenting him, mumbled, his lips brushing against Dean’s scent gland, “Thanks, Dean. You’re the best,” Dean’s heart skipped a beat.

If only the omega knew—because clearly, _Cas_ was the best.


	2. Chapter 2

After the emotional turmoil, Cas had clearly been exhausted, so he had ended up sleeping at Dean’s place. They kind of crashed at each other’s places a lot when they were too lazy to drive home or just wanted to talk through the night, so Cas had some of his stuff in a drawer Dean had cleared out for him for situations just like these.

Originally, the visitor would take the couch—that had been the deal. But then, when Dean had kept complaining about how uncomfortable Cas’ couch was, Cas had snapped one day and said that his bed was a double anyway, so if Dean didn’t like the couch, he was welcome to the right side of the bed as long as he didn’t mind Cas occupying the other side.

It was really only fair that Cas didn’t have to sleep on the couch when he was spending the night at Dean’s either, so that’s how their strange arrangement of sleeping in each other’s beds had come to be.

They hadn’t done that in a while, though, and Dean suspected that Inias had had something to do with that. Dean had to admit that he wouldn’t want his boyfriend to sleep in someone else’s bed either, no matter how spacious said bed was.

So, Dean had woken up next to Cas many times before and it certainly never got old, but this time was different.

When they woke up, instead of immediately getting up as they usually did, Cas rolled towards him and started scenting. Dean had offered him the night before that he could scent him whenever he wanted, whenever he felt himself get sad or missed Inias’ scent.

Still, getting scented by his crush first thing in the morning did nothing to lessen his morning wood. Oh goody, and there were the butterflies again, back with a vengeance.

“You smell nice when you’re just waking up,” Cas told him sleepily.

 _I smell in love_ , Dean didn’t say. Maybe that wasn’t even it. Maybe it was just his arousal that Cas smelled.

Dean also didn’t tell him how tasty Cas smelled himself. Hitting on his best friend who was just getting over a break-up didn’t seem like a smart move.

“Thanks,” he mumbled instead and then, when Cas scented him some more, tried to enjoy the tickling sensation that started in his scent gland and traveled all the way through his body to settle low in his stomach.

⁂

If Dean had thought there was no better feeling than getting scented by Cas, he was wrong. A few days into their new arrangement, when Dean was over at Cas’ place, letting himself get scented and enjoying every second of it, Cas mentioned, “I’m feeling kind of stupid if it’s only me.”

That’s how Dean got permission to scent Cas in return. He hadn’t lied when he had said being scent-bonded to someone could feel awesome. But he had never had permission to scent Cas before, _really_ scent him, nose to his scent gland and all. Of all the scent-bonds he’d ever experienced in his life (two), they didn’t even begin to compare to this—maybe because he had never been in love and scent-bonded at the same time.

Now, he was the one who was allowed to brush his thumb across Cas’ scent gland, getting it nice and ready to be scented. He would show Cas what it felt like to _really_ get scented. Even if Cas wasn’t scent-bonded to him, Dean could try to make the scenting experience as good for him as it was for Dean.

⁂

From then on, it was kind of as if they were in a secret relationship.

Pretty much everyone would agree that an alpha and an omega scenting each other was only done when they were together, so obviously, they didn’t scent each other in public. It was a private thing that they did, just to help Cas out as long as he was hung up on Inias’ scent.

Their friends would certainly never let them hear the end of it. They would think it was something that it wasn’t, and trying to explain to them what it _was_ seemed too much trouble. Especially since they would not approve of it. Even though Dean was okay with his own feelings getting hurt, his friends would not be.

Keeping it private and thus having to sneak around was also what made it exciting, though.

For example, when they were having game night at Charlie’s, they went to get more snacks and quickly scented each other in the kitchen while the others were in the living room. Only when they heard someone else approach did they quickly step away from each other, pretending they were searching for the snacks that were right in front of them. Dean hoped he didn’t look as flushed as Cas did.

When Sam was over for movie night and he had to use the bathroom, a look alone was enough and they were closing the gap between them and scenting each other again. Basically, ‘whenever Cas was sad or missed Inias’ scent’ pretty much turned into ‘whenever they were alone together for longer than two seconds.’

When they were out with friends, they usually didn’t even make it back to Dean’s or Cas’ place, but quickly scented each other once they had said their goodbyes and were in the Impala.

And then there was the time when they were all hanging out at a diner and a waiter was flirting with Cas—or flirting _at_ him, since, of course, it went right over Cas’ head—and Dean couldn’t help himself. He gave Cas the signal with a slight nod and then excused himself, throwing one last look over his shoulder to make sure that Cas was paying attention to where he was heading.

He pushed through the back door and had to wait a minute for Cas to join him. As soon as the omega had walked through the door, Dean pushed him against the wall and dove in, not only scenting, but actually leaving a scent mark.

As always, Cas was immediately on board, giving as good as he got, sniffing at every inch of Dean he could reach.

When Dean was satisfied with his work here and his alpha was appeased, knowing that the waiter would back off for sure now, they returned to their table. He didn’t even care that the waiter wasn’t the only one who could smell the scent mark he’d left on Cas. He just pretended he didn’t see their friends exchange not-so-subtle looks, and smiled at Cas, who smiled back shyly.


	3. Chapter 3

Even months after Inias had left and there was no way Cas wasn’t over his scent yet, they were still at it, simply because no one had called it off.

One morning, after they had spent a completely platonic bro-night together, which of course had included lots of scenting as well as something that could only be called ‘cuddling,’ Dean slipped up. He had kind of been waiting for this to happen, for him to ruin everything as he always did.

It had started as a normal morning for them: he woke Cas up by softly scenting along his neck and brushing a strand of hair out of his face. God, he had so much love for this omega he thought he might burst with it.

That’s the moment when Cas blinked his eyes open and Dean didn’t have time to school his expression. Of course, this was also the moment that Cas, most oblivious omega in the word, decided to catch a clue.

His eyes widened and a soft “Oh,” escaped him.

“Mornin’ sunshine,” Dean managed to say around a lump in his throat, and even though he had said it to Cas a million times, it felt dangerous in this situation.

Cas had him fixed with a look Dean couldn’t escape. Once Cas stopped being clueless, he _really_ stopped being clueless, it seemed.

“Dean, are you… Are you scent-bonded to _me_?” the omega finally asked.

“Pffffft… no!”

Cas just kept staring at him.

Apparently, there was no sense denying it any longer, so he shrugged. “Kinda.”

Cas narrowed his eyes.

“It’s not a big deal,” Dean said. The cat was out of the bag, but maybe he could still salvage this. He really didn’t want to lose… this. Waking up next to Cas, holding him, scenting him…

“Dean…” Cas began softly and Dean didn’t like that tone of voice, a trace of pity in it. “I think you have the most amazing scent…” He trailed off, his eyes flitting away from Dean’s.

Dean felt his heart drop. “But.” Of course there was a but.

Some part of him had secretly been hoping that with all the scenting, Cas might scent-bond with him, too.

“But,” Cas agreed and Dean’s worst fears were confirmed, “I don’t want you to feel like I did when Inias left.”

“Then don’t move to another continent and we’re good,” Dean said, trying to keep his tone light. When Cas didn’t seem convinced, he added, “Seriously. It’s only a big deal if you make it one. The scenting feels good, right?”

“…Of course.”

“So, no reason to stop.”

Cas seemed to consider this for a moment. Then he started, “But if you—”

“I just enjoy your scent,” Dean interrupted him, close to begging now. “Just chemicals making my nose want to get up close and personal with your scent gland,” he joked, but of course, Cas didn’t appreciate his sense of humor and just squinted at him, so he turned serious again. “This doesn’t have to change anything.”

He held Cas’ gaze until finally, Cas nodded and Dean felt as if he could breathe again. Although the knife in his heart twisted when he thought about the fact that he now knew for sure that he didn’t make Cas feel the way Cas made him feel.

“Not so un-scent-bondable after all, huh?” he tried another joke to cover up his feelings.

As always, Cas saw right through him, though. “You smell sad.”

“Yeah, well, I had just hoped that maybe… never mind. I’ll get over it.”

Now Cas looked dejected too, which was so not what Dean had intended. “I’m sorry,” Cas said.

“Not your fault.” You couldn’t choose who you fell for, after all.

“Are you sure we should be…”

“Yes.”

And Dean tentatively pulled Cas closer into an embrace, just in case one of the carefully held back tears escaped so that the omega wouldn’t see it run down his face. This was no big deal. Just something he had already suspected confirmed. Just some hurt feelings that Dean had known from the beginning would be inevitable.

Maybe no scenting for now, but just this, just touching, embracing, holding each other, each touch a bittersweet reminder of the fact that they would always have each other, but at the same time Dean would never really have Cas.

⁂

A few awkward scentings followed after that. Cas was clearly unsure of how to treat Dean, but Dean was careful to treat the omega just like always and so Cas followed his lead and they soon got back into their groove.

From then on, their scentings included a lot more snuggling as well because despite of everything, holding and being held in return had been nice last time. Plus, scenting each other without cuddling to their hearts’ content just wasn’t a good scenting to begin with.

Everyone knew that in order to provide a safe scenting environment for the omega, the alpha should be gentle with him, hold him close and stroke his arms and back and even belly if he let you. (Cas totally let him.)

That worked well until one day when they were sneak-scenting in Charlie’s bathroom. She was having some sort of geek party and with all the people there, it seemed the perfect opportunity to squeeze in some scent-cuddling since no one would be missing them anyway.

Well—at least that’s what they had thought.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Dean and Cas broke apart to stare at each other and then at the locked door.

“Dean!” Charlie herself. “We could use a few more players for D&D. Cas in there with you?”

“What?! No!” Dean spluttered.

“Yeah right,” Benny’s voice came through. “No one cares that you’re hooking up.”

“What? I care if it’s in my bathroom. I thought they were just making out in there.”

“We’re doing neither,” Dean yelled back.

“A _ha_! So Cas _is_ in there with you,” Charlie said, triumphant.

“They are clearly in love.” That was Eileen. Seriously—had they all decided to hang out in front of the bathroom door? “We should leave them alone.”

But Charlie was never one to give up easily and so she managed to rope them into the game of D&D after all.

Dean glanced at Cas from time to time who seemed deep in thought. Whenever Dean glanced over, Cas was staring at him as if he wanted to solve a puzzle. Dean just hoped their friends hadn’t messed it all up for him. If Cas had realized that Dean wasn’t just scent-bonded to him but in love with him—Dean would certainly have a harder time talking him out of breaking whatever they had going on off.


	4. Chapter 4

“Dean?” Cas asked that night when they were getting ready for bed. They had a whole routine, taking turns brushing their teeth and changing into their pajamas. Cas was already finished and had gotten comfortable in bed, leaning against the headboard, while Dean just got ready to climb in too, sitting on the edge of his side of the bed.

“Yeah.” He carefully kept his back turned to Cas. Here it came. Dean tried to steel himself, but he just felt numb, incapable of avoiding the inevitable.

“Are you in love with me?”

“C’mon, Cas. Don’t do this.” Dean fluffed his pillow just so he had something to do, still avoiding looking at the omega and hoping against hope that Cas would just leave it be.

But of course, Cas ignored him. “Inias asked me to move in with him. Move to Paris.”

“ _What_?” Dean swiveled around. The nerve of this guy! Just because Inias decided he missed Cas didn’t give him the right to ask him something like that! “He’s been gone for _months_. When did you even talk to him?”

“Not now. Before. Before we broke up.”

“Oh.”

“I didn’t even consider it. And of course there were… reasons. But the main reason… the main reason was you.”

Cas was looking at him as if he was waiting for Dean to say something, but all Dean could repeat was, “Oh.” The numb feeling was still there, making it impossible to say something intelligent here. But there was some other feeling slowly seeping into the numbness. A dangerous feeling Dean tried to push down.

Silence descended between them and still, Dean had no idea what to say.

Then Cas finally stopped staring at him, looked down at his hands in his lap and mentioned off-handedly, “Anyway… I think I might have scent-bonded to you too.”

And that was just—too much. He abruptly got up and ran his hand through his hair. “Cas—don’t. Just don’t.”

“Don’t what?” The gaze was back on Dean, eyes wide as if he had no idea what his words were doing to Dean. And maybe he didn’t—this was Cas after all, so Dean had to spell it out.

“Don’t give me false hope! You ‘think’? You ‘might have’? If you’re not sure, then you haven’t. It’s as easy as that.”

“Easy?” Cas repeated, sitting up at attention. “This isn’t easy. You touch me in ways that make me feel… But then you don’t want to talk about being in love…”

“What’s the point?” Dean laughed humorlessly. “You’re not even scent-bonded to me.”

“I’m pretty sure that I am,” Cas replied, calm as ever whereas the adrenaline in Dean’s veins made him want to pace, or throw something across the room or run away from this conversation. He settled for pacing.

“‘Pretty sure’ ain’t good enough.”

“You said it yourself. A scent-bond—that’s just hormones.” Cas made a dismissive gesture with his hand.

But Dean felt like being contrary because clearly, there was some kind of flaw in Cas’ logic. He kept still long enough to cross his arms and glare at him. “Being in love is just hormones, too.”

“I’m not _in love_ with you.”

“I know!” _But thanks for stomping on my heart._

“I _love_ you!”

“I _know_!” Dean yelled.

Wait… What?

Suddenly, it was eerily silent apart from the ringing in his ears.

They were pretty great at staring at each other in silence, though, so that’s what they did while Dean was trying to figure out if he had heard that right.

“I mean… I didn’t know. That,” Dean corrected himself. Maybe Cas was talking about their friendship and his love for Dean as a best friend…

Before Dean could ask, Cas started talking, “With you, it’s… different. It’s always been different. And it took me a while to realize because it’s just always been there… But your scent makes me feel safe and happy. Makes me want to do more than scent you. Hold your hand, maybe, or hug you, I don’t know.” He shrugged, an awkward Cas-shrug that certainly made Dean want to hold hands or hug him too.

Instead, Dean could do nothing but listen to it all, hardly believing what he was hearing. The wave of hope rolling over him was almost suffocating.

“Thing is, it’s so much more overwhelming with you,” Cas went on. “When I scent you, the affection I have for you seems almost too much, and I can’t get close enough because your arms around me make me feel…” Cas looked off towards the wall for a moment, pensive. “Something I can’t really put into words. Tingly all over but also like I never want to let go…”

That… sounded a lot like he had, in fact, formed a scent bond with Dean. It sounded like a scent bond and being in love and—just _love_ , like Cas had said.

“I just… I didn’t know if it was a scent bond, or the love hormones or… just us being us. So I thought, maybe if you _were_ in love with me, like Eileen seemed to suggest… Maybe you could love me back one day. Not because of the hormones that will fade with time anyway… But in the mate kind of way. In the forever kind of way.”

One day? Had Cas just asked if Dean could love him back _one day_? Cas had known for a while now that Dean was scent-bonded to him. And, okay, being scent-bonded to someone didn’t necessarily mean you loved him or were even in love with him, but surely, Cas had to have guessed…

“I know you don’t like to talk about feelings,” Cas’ voice broke through his thoughts, “but it’s your turn to say something now.”

That’s when Dean realized that Cas had talked kind of a lot while all Dean had done was silently listen to the omega bare his heart.

“Yes!” Dean blurted out. “To the… to the question.” He sat back down on the bed, never taking his eyes off the omega. “So madly in love with you,” he added, just in case that hadn’t been obvious. And then, remembering the distinction Cas had made earlier, he corrected himself, “Well, not just _in love_.” Just love. He had so much love for Cas.

Cas smiled at him then, a genuine smile that spread across his entire face and made him look so beautiful, Dean couldn’t help himself but lean in and softly touch his lips to Cas’. Just like scenting Cas, kissing him sent a shiver down his spine and a stab of longing through his heart—but it was the nice kind of longing now, knowing that Cas reciprocated these feelings. A longing with a promise of fulfillment.

When he broke the kiss and leaned back, Cas’ smile had turned fond. “Okay then,” the omega said and snuggled down into the pillows as if he was getting ready to sleep.

Dean raised his eyebrows. “Okay?” he repeated.

“Well, if you come under the covers with me, we could kiss and snuggle some more. That would be more than okay.”

So that’s what they did. And if Dean’s heart was close to bursting with happiness, then that was okay too because he saw his own joy reflected in Cas’ eyes, and they both deserved some happiness in their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> Another one finished. 😊 As always, a comment would make my day! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
> 
> And if you want to support me another way, reblogging the link on tumblr would be awesome. **[Here's the link to the tumblr post](https://destielshipper4cas.tumblr.com/post/190901188859/scent-bonded-finished-rating-teen-and-up-tags)**.


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